TRELLO JOB FLOW BOARD, I need some advice please.

[Andy D]

I have been wanting to set up a digital job flow board for awhile & saw some of you like Trello, so I signed up
for a free membership to try it out. I'm not sure yet of what way to set it up and what it's capable of.
What I would like to do is:
1 have sales enter the order with due dates and then drag the order to design when it's ready to be designed.
2. Once the design is approved, it would be released and listed in all the other departments that will be involved with the project.
3. The other department can add notes and check it when their part is completed.

I really like the layout and drag and drop of Trello, but it seems this may not be the right program for my wish list...
Attached is a screen shot of a very basic start, hopefully it will give a better idea of what I'm talking about.

 

[SignProPlus-Chip]

I have the following lists:

Proof/Estimate - Item that require a proof and estimate
Pending Approval - waiting for client feedback
Approved/Pre Production - approved by client, final artwork prepped
In Production - Currently in fabrication on the floor
Scheduled for install - Fabricated and ready to leave shop
Invoicing - Job complete, items to be invoiced
Payment pending - Client received invoice
Paid & Complete - All done & paid

 

[Andy D]

Thanks sign pro plus, so any advice on a good link that helped you set your Trello up?

 

[jtcollins]

Since you can use multiple "Boards" with Trello I would give different departments of the shop their own board with their own lists so your board doesn't get too massive and stays easy to navigate.

I'm at a smaller shop now and have set up a board for Quoting and a board for Actual Jobs and my "Jobs" lists are pretty similar to what "Chip?" has and my Quotes Board has all my sales lists: Call-ins/Walk-ins (to keep track of tire kickers just in case), Need Info From Client (such as design assets), Need Surveys, Need to Schedule Design Consults, Requested Quotes, Quoted, Rejected, and anything that is approved gets moved to the "Jobs" board.

You can use the quoted cards to do follow-ups in a timely manner.

You can color code, add pictures and link files and create due dates that will prompt you when it's near that date. There is also a way to link up Trello with dropbox and Google Calendar but I haven't pursued that yet. Seems like it would be very useful though.

I tried to research the best ways to utilize Trello when I first started setting it up and found that the best option was just to sit down and start writing out an organization chart specific to my shops needs on paper first and then implement it.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I tried Trello a few years ago, it seemed like a good system, however there were some issues that prevented us from running with it.

1. the biggest one, not everyone at our shop is computer savvy, and some don't sit at a computer most of the day.

2. I couldn't find a way to move a single card to different departments at the same time, example, if we are making a sign that involves cutting/printing vinyl & assembling/building the actual sign, these steps are usually handled by different people at the same time, so there was no way to have the printer work on his part, while the Fab guy did his thing.

3. Since we do engraving as well, there are a lot of very small jobs by nature (updating plaques, engraving little name plates etc.) and I found it wasn't cost effective to input these jobs into trello, by the time i input it properly i could have the job done and moved on to the next.

However if you are a shop that focuses fewer products (i.e. just printed items, or just coroplast signs) it may work very well.

 

[Andy D]

2. I couldn't find a way to move a single card to different departments at the same time, example, if we are making a sign that involves cutting/printing vinyl & assembling/building the actual sign, these steps are usually handled by different people at the same time, so there was no way to have the printer work on his part, while the Fab guy did his thing.
.

Yes, exactly, once the art on a project is approved it usually needs to be listed in several different departments
so that they can have their own list of just the stuff they need to get done.
Well that sucks, any programs you can suggest?

 

[CanuckSigns]

Yes, exactly, once the art on a project is approved it usually needs to be listed in several different departments
so that they can have their own list of just the stuff they need to get done.
Well that sucks, any programs you can suggest?

I havn't found anything yet, i'm currently using a big magnetic board with 4x6 cards, my office looks like an air traffic controller's room, and some days I feel like one too!

 

[Andy D]

Lol , that's funny, we use a similar system, except we use job jackets...
This is our board for just the graphic department.

 

[dlndesign]

I found that trello is great as long as it is set up for all stages in the process. It's easier to set up one long board that has each department so the station before can then move it to its next step. Instead of having a job that requires multiple actions on one board, we just tag them specifically to the department that needs to know and they are instructed to look for their tag and so on.
I personally enjoy this system and it's pretty intuitive.

 

[TrustMoore_TN]

Here is a system that I've been using and refining for multiple companies for 15 years. I am getting ready to implement in our workflow here. The board is direct printed and has 2 strips of velcro running vertically along each column. The column headers are also direct printed sintra with velcro on the back so that I can reconfigure the columns if I need to. The job cards are direct print onto coro and have velcro on the back. I use WET erase markers to write the job information on them. On the production board there is a "Need to Order" section that has dry erase vinyl that can be written on. The job jackets with all of the paperwork live in plastic file folder bins beneath the production board.

As the project moves through our shop, the job cards are moved in the appropriate column. I can also have mutiple job cards per project. Higher priority jobs stay toward the top of the column, Lower priority jobs toward the bottom. Not only does it help management and staff know where a specific job is in the system, but also, at a glance, management can identify bottlenecks and allocate resources if needed to move jobs along.

A system like this may be overkill for smaller shops, but it can scale easily. It would be nice to find some software that I could accomplish the same result with, but anything I've looked at took more time for data entry and to keep updated than it was worth.